Aston Villa defender Pau Torres reportedly suffered an injury in the first few days of pre-season, but it had been suggested at the time that it wasn’t a serious issue.
The Spaniard’s absence from our pre-season schedule thus far has led to growing concern over a potential injury issue, with rumours online gaining traction this weekend which suggested that it might be a serious knee injury.
While Emiliano Buendia took to social media to dismiss that claim, there remained a lack of clarity over what the issue was for Pau, but as per The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell, the Villa centre-half suffered a setback in the first few days after reporting for pre-season training earlier this month, and it’s said that it wasn’t believed to be a serious blow.
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Now, whether things have changed since then remains to be seen, but it’s equally possible that Unai Emery and the medical staff are keeping him out for the time being in order to allow him to recover, and he will feature in our pre-season schedule when the time is right.
Villa still have four more games to play before we travel to Salzburg to face Paris Saint-Germain for the UEFA Super Cup, and so there will be plenty of minutes available for Pau and any other injured player to get back up to speed.
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Naturally, the hope now is that he hasn’t suffered a fresh setback or that further tests have revealed it’s more than serious than initially thought, but through the combination of Buendia’s response and the reporting above, it doesn’t sound as though it’s as bad as the rumours that circulated on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Tanswell also provided an update on three other Villa players who missed our trip to face Porto this weekend, as he notes that Alysson picked up a knock against Walsall, Buendia is having his minutes managed and Tammy Abraham is still recovering from his shoulder surgery and seeing out that process.
It’s hoped that both Alysson and Buendia at least are able to recover and start against Real Sociedad on Tuesday night to continue their preparations for the new campaign, with the former in particular needing minutes given that he has struggled with injuries since joining us.
The Brazilian youngster will be as frustrated as anyone that he wasn’t able to follow up a promising second-half display against Walsall in Portugal this weekend and he should be supported rather than ridiculed over his injury troubles, but as noted above, there is still plenty of time and opportunities for him and the rest of the squad to get minutes and build their way to peak condition for the start of the new season.
Emery though will certainly be hoping to avoid any further setbacks in the coming weeks, as he’ll want a fully healthy squad at his disposal as we also try to add more quality and depth between now and the end of the summer transfer window.
